this is "world news." tonight, fill it up. good news about gas prices in the weeks ahead. is it enough to pull america's economy from the brink? when sarah palin might shake up the race. the good wife. sit fair to ask a woman who wants to become president if her faith requires submission to her husband's wishes? vampire bats. health officials release a thank you warning tonight. the rich woman who secretly saved hundreds of lives. the gam lower and raw counsel of our person of the week.

good evening and good news tonight. word tonight that gas prices are heading down. how much? a whopping 50 cents a gallon over the next month. following a big drop in oil price. the leading analysts told "world news" today that the average family in america will save more than $70 a month at the pump. that will pump $45 billion into the economy. abc's linsey davis is where the prices are starting to fall. >> reporter: gas prices here have dropped 12 cents in the last week. lower gas prices are acting the same way an instant tax cut would. they put more money into your pocket. at that point, if consumers spend that money, it can help the economy start to bounce.

with record-setting swings in the stock market and widespread gloom about the dismal economy, there are still hints of the proverbial silver lining. in the coming weeks, you'll see savings at the gas pumps. with oil prices down 15% since july. >> the minute the prices at the pump go down, you start saving. >> reporter: speaking of spending, new data out today shows our resilience. despite washington's battle about debt, consumers kept shopping, increasing our spending to more than $390 billion, up half a percent in one month. >> the bump in retail sales in july was a welcome relief. e consumer in the face of many head winds was at least keeping its head above water. >> reporter: what we buying? more electronics. appliances. furniture. and stocking up on basics. and it's not just retail and gas

looking better. mortgage rates are dipping to historic louse. >> by refinancing now, taking advantage of lower rates households can reduce monthly payments, create breathing room. that is money that can be pumped back into the economy. >> reporter: 15-year fixed rate mortgages, 3.5%. 30-year mortgages lowest in nine months. as a result, refinance applications rose to the highest level of the year. up 30% last year. refinancing gives homeowners a chance to free up cash. the low rates are likely to spur home sales. the good newew helped the dow close thisis positivee territor today, up 125 points. if consumers do start to spend in response to the falling gas prices, it might help calm volatility in the markets in the coming weeks. dian diane? >> that is good to hear.

we have encouraging news tonight about the foreclosure crisis. president obama says there's a creative new solution that could make your neighborhood better and bring america back. and abc's steve osunsami decided to see the plan n action. >> reporter: they're the type of people that could help end the foreclosure crisis. dane and his sister-in-law have bought eight foreclosed homes this year for pennies on the dollar. after $15 hourks in upgrades and a month of hard work, it was transformed. >> if the government would get involved and offer more affordable finance options, it would make things easier. >> probably take 50% to 75% of

the properties off the market within a year or two. >> reporter: washington is listening closely. they're looking at tax breaks. hemming investors get better financing. making sure there are families ready to trent homes investors purchase. the biggest idea, making it eas over the mortgage for a family in the home, and have the family pay rent. it's still your home? >> j.r. and his partner were struggling. an investor bought their home and pushed the monthly bill down to $850 in rent. >> we did not have to move. we're in the same community. >> reporter: rob davidson is the inveser. >> we have helped a lot of families. you can't put a dollar value on

that. >> reporter: critics worry that would lead too more absentee landlords. they swoop into neighborhoods, buy up property, and leaf them in disrepair. >> paint and trim in here. >> reporter: foreclosures are sold and 500,000 families at risk with keep their homes. and less than an hour north of where steve was, a measure of the need in the cououry tonight. and the generosity. more than 4,000 people lined up in the middle of the night for the chance to get free dental care. offered at the first baptist church in woodstock. the line stretching 20 foobl fields. people that didn't get treated today will be seen tomorrow. staff from the georgia dental association pitching in to do it. one dentist said they looked around and knew they had to do something. we turn to the bare knuckle

political fight. today, the candidates rushing to corner the people making headlines with their choice this the poll tomorrow night. and guess who joined everyone? someone not in the race but trying to upstage them all. jake tapper is in des moines. hello, jake. >> reporter: good evening, diane. greetings from the iowa state fair. last night, the eight major republican candidates debated. tomorrow morning the iowa straw poll, after which some of those candidacies could end. the tasmanian devil, as yet unannounced accounted ara palin. and the media. sucked up in the palin vortex as joked about last night on "the daily show" with jon stewart. >> we don't know if she's running. >> we've done it the last couple

of years. finally, we incorporated the stop into our one nation tour. >> reporter: i don't know why you haven't thrown your hat into the ring? >> i still think it's early. too early. >> reporter: that's not the view of those campaigning hard here for months. not mitt romney. he focused his attacks last night on the president. >> i'm not going eat barack obama's dog food. >> reporter: for some others, the hawk eye state is do or die. congresswoman michele bachmann and coverager governor tim pawlenty. those two showed last night there is no love lost between them. >> an undidiutable fact that in congress, her record of accomplishment and results is nonexistent. >> when you were governor, you said the era of small government is over. that sounds more like barack

obama, if you ask me. >> reporter: how do you make the decision about when to be aggressive and when not? it's a risk. >> people want to see answers. i suppose there's a risk. the points i made last night were basic fact. >> reporter: the straw poll is a fund-raiser for the republican party here. 14,000 voted four years ago. about the same number are expected this time. to vote for them.ets for voters diane, one local politics ofessor called the straw poll an inherently meaningless event that could have a huge impact. tomorrow, we could see the beginnings of the impact. >> and 14,000 people will make a lot of headlines tomorrow. jake will stay in iowa to anchor "this week." on sunday. his guests will include tim

pawlenty and michele bachmann. she was on the receiving end of what may have been the most radio active question last night. people were taking sides all day today about the legitimacy of the submission questiti. do you think it was fair? here's abc's sharyn alfonsi. >> reporter: of all the questions at the debate, it with thursday one -- >> as president would you be sub miss toif your husband? >> reporter: -- that set the audience off. [ booing ] >> what submission means to us is respect. i respect my husband. he's a wonderful godly man and a great father. he respects he as his wife. that's how we operate our marriage. we respect each other. we love each other. >> reporter: the question stems from this 006 speech. she describes her path to law,

quoting scripture. >> my husband said, now you need to go and get a post docktorate degree in tax law. why? i hate taxes. >> reporter: the question last night was an opportunity to make it clear what her position is. today, fellow gop candidates said they didn't like it. >> i think the question shouldn't have been asked. >> it's sad these questions are asked because of ignorance of what the bible teaches. >> reporter: among christians, the interpretation of sum mission varies wildly. was it a fair question? >> i think any question is fair. anything about a candidate's past. >> reporter: probing how a a ar the's religion will influence their presidency is nothing new. perhaps that reaction last

night -- was for another reason altogether. >> would male question have been asked the same question? probably not. i think most people understand that's completely ridiculous. >> reporter: she was asked about being submissive last week in a "newsweek" story. she answered in similar fashion. she said, i would be the decision maker, end quote. most pundits think this is not going to be a problem for her later on. >> to chart whether it helps her or hurts her? >> they think this could firm up her evangelical core. and now, a federal appeals court in atlanta today dealt a blow to the president's health care law. the court sided with 26 states to rule that congress does not have the power to force people

to buy insurance. that's a corner stone of the new law. this contradicts another court. that means the issue is likely headed to the supreme court. one of america's crime fighters is about to taken to rioters in london. william bratton who ran the police departments in new york and l.a., will help scotland yard. 1700 people were arrested this week. police need to pull in community groups to help ease racial tepgss. and still ahead, a bat loose on plane full of passengers. why the cdc is worried tonight. catch it if you can. the shooting star is coming to our skies tonight. why the moon might get in the way. and the woman who wielded money, lipstick, and raw courage to save hundreds of lives. our "person of the week."

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north. these bats like warm weather. and as fwloebl warming heats up the u.s., populations of vampire bats are enling closer to the border. >> it's getting closer to texas. >> reporter: they feed on blood, using a heat sensor in the nose to find the places where blood flows closest to the skin. the cdc is worried about this bat that somehow ended up on a delta airlines flight to atlanta. it's not a vampire. but the cdc is trying to find all 50 passengers to make sure they dooen't have rabies. >> reporter: bats that are in the u.s. are smaller. they are dying out. there's a mysterious illness kyling them off. >> it's a mystery. >> reporter: just as the native

bats are becoming endangered, the blood-sucking vampire bats may be at our doorstep. david wright, abc, los angeles. >> and a different kind of bite shaking up swimmers on some popular north carolina beaches. a bull shark bit man on the leg and sent him to the hospital. it's the third shark attack off the north carolina coast this summer. last month, a 10-year-old and a 6-year-old girl were bitten in separate attacks. coming up, do you have aching knees? the one thing you're probably not doing that would give you relief tonight. st anything. out for drinks, eats. i have very well fitting dentures. i like to eat a lot of fruits. love them all. the seal i get with the super poligrip free keeps the seeds from getting up underneath. even well-fitting dentures let in food particles. super poligrip is zinc free. with just a few dabs, it's clinically proven to seal out more food particles

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word tonight the postal service is planning drastic new job cuts as it continues to lose billions of dollars. just weeks after saying it wants to close almost 4,000 branches,

they're considering cutting 120,000 more jobs. its already laid off 110,000 workers. the postal service expects to lose more than $8 billion this year. sfwnchts if you're one of the 9 million americans with knees that ache because of arthrititi row know that run canning be painful. nearly 60% of the women that suffer from it and 40% of the men are getting virtually no exercise. not even ten minutes a week. experts insist exercise will remedy the pain and the inflammation that comes from ost yoe arthritis. and the people that gave the world the addictive and for some of us, maddening angry birds. a deal that values the company at $1.2 billion. the wildly popular birds that do battle with the craft pigs have

been downloaded 350 million times and are prer pairing to invade china next. and here's something worth staying up for late tonight. or getting up very early. the annual perseid meteor shower will turn the sky into a light show overnight. sky watchers say the moon will be full tonight. so for the best view, look to the darkest part of the sky, after midnight is good. closer to dawn even better. and enjoy. and coming up, how the woman they called the white mouse secretly cruised her glamour, her money, and incredible nerve to save so many lives. [ female announcer ] for frequent heartburn sufferers,

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and finally tonight, our "person of the week." to the world, she was a picture of glamour and wealth. but nancy wake had a secret life and a secret name given her by the enemy. she died this week at 98. one of the most unlikely heroes of world war ii. at first, you think it's a movie star of another era. nancy wake. charmed an heir into marrying her. she was set to live a life of comfort when the nazis moved into france. >> i was a young girl. i loved it all. >> reporter: and she cruised that irrepressible nerve and her

wealth to start hiding british soldiers. hundred of them spirited away to safety. the nazis d dbed her the white mouse. when they were on her heels, she escaped by hiking 50 hours through the pypynees in espadrilles, making it to spain. her life inspired "charlotte gray." telling how the british taught her to accuse fire arms and her muscles to kill. a documentary tells what happened next. they parachute ed her back into france. >> there they were. dancing about the sky avoiding the german anti-aircraft guns. i was hardly hollywood's idea of a glamorous sky. >> reporter: she joined the french underground. retiring lipstick, stockings, and the opportunity to pick off

unsuspecting nazis. >> in my opinion, the only german that was good was a dead one. and the deader the better. i rejoiced in the fact that i killed them. i'm sorry i couldn't kill more. that, ladies and gentlemen, is why i'm here. >> reporter: the one person she could not save is her french husband. he was tortured and killed because he wouldn't lead the nazis to her. >> some people said, how did you survive? i didn't do this all alone. i had thousands of people behind me. >> reporter: after the war, she lived a peaceful life. this week, she died in a nursing home this london. unrecognized, except for those who remembered that a white mouse once saved theirir lives. >> my dedication to loyalty to the throne and to the people who fought for us.

was very, very sincere. and that is all i have to say today. >> and so we choose nancy wake. she asked her ashes be scattered over the hills in france where she says she proudly fought back. sfwlmplgt we thank you for watching. we're always there at abcnews.com. "nightline" will be later. for all of us, have a great weekend. i'i'll see you back here on monday. good night.

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